Method and apparatus to facilitate online purchase of works using paid electronic previews

ABSTRACT

A method and system is described to facilitate variable pricing for electronically viewing content online. Consumers pay different amounts to view portions of electronically viewable content obtained from a tangible work, where the amount paid is based on a characteristic of the work (e.g., the genre or publisher), the consumer&#39;s past viewing behavior or purchases, including the portions of content (e.g., the number of pages or chapters) previously viewed from the same or other work, or the number or amount of purchases made of other works or products, or the aggregated viewing behavior or purchases of a number of consumers.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to systems and methods forthe online purchase of products over a network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The information age has produced an explosion of content for people toread. This content is available in the form of tangible media such asbooks, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, manuals, guides, references,articles, reports, documents, etc., that exist in print, as well as inthe form of electronic media. The Internet has facilitated an even widerpublication of content in electronic form through downloading thecontent in web pages, portable document files, and e-books, among otherformats.

The widespread availability of content in electronic form has presentednew opportunities for Internet retailers to sell both traditional (i.e.,tangible) works and electronic content to consumers. As with anypurchase, consumers are unwilling to risk the online purchase of a bookor other published work that they may not fully enjoy or that may nototherwise meet their expectations. For works that are purchased online,but do not meet the expectations of the consumer, returning the work isoftentimes a time-consuming process. One way to mitigate the risk that acustomer will be unhappy with an online purchase of a work is to allowthe consumer to electronically preview sample portions of the digitalversion of the work, essentially the electronic equivalent of browsingthrough the pages of a book or other published work in traditionalbrick-and-mortar stores. By providing limited and free access to digitalcontent, Internet retailers have been able to enhance the onlinepurchase process.

Unfortunately, not all consumers appreciate the value of previewingsample portions of a work before making a purchase. In particular, someconsumers are loath to pay for a work when they can view the work forfree. They may be tempted to avoid purchasing the work altogether bysimply viewing as much of the work as possible electronically and, insome cases, even producing an unauthorized copy of the viewed portionsfor later consumption. Moreover, like other forms of marketing, allowingviewers to electronically preview works in electronic form costs money.Unless such marketing is shown to increase sales, electronic booksellersmay not be able to justify the cost of converting works into anelectronic form that may be previewed by consumers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To address the above-described issues, a system, method, andcomputer-accessible medium are provided to facilitate the onlinepurchase of works using electronic previewing. Prior to making apurchase, consumers are allowed to electronically preview content fromthe electronic form of a work for a variable fee that is dependent onthe work being viewed and/or the consumer's prior purchase or previewingactivity. Previewing for a fee allows a consumer to minimize their riskwhen making a purchase, while at the same time recouping some of thebookseller's cost of providing viewable content. Various incentives canbe provided to the consumer to make the payment of the fee moreattractive to the user. For example, a method is provided in which theconsumer earns various incentives such as credits and/or discounts forviewing content from the electronic form of a work. The incentives maysubsequently be applied to the further viewing or purchase of the viewedwork or other works or products.

In one aspect of the invention, a method is provided in which consumerspay different amounts to view portions of content from the electronicform of a work. The portions of content may be, among others, one ormore chapters, sections, pages, paragraphs, or sentences from a work,including sentences or sentence fragments containing or proximate towords that match a search term entered by the consumer. The amount paidmay vary based on a variety of factors, for example, the amount paid maybe based on the type or identity of the work, such as the genre orpublisher of the work. The amount paid may also be based on a singleconsumer's or on multiple consumers' past viewing behavior or purchases,including the number of pages previously viewed from the same or otherelectronic work, or the number or amount of purchases made of otherworks or products, in either tangible or electronic form.

In still another aspect of the invention, a system is provided tofacilitate the management of a viewer account database in which eachconsumer's viewing credits and discounts are maintained. The systemincludes a user interface to enable consumers to, among other functions,purchase viewing credits, participate in promotional incentives to earnrewards in the form of viewing credits and discounts, and display thestatus of a personal viewer account. Viewer account balances in theviewer account database are automatically maintained as credits areconsumed and purchased or earned.

In accordance with yet other aspects of the present invention, acomputer-accessible medium for facilitating the online purchase of worksusing electronic previewing is provided. The computer-accessible mediumcomprises data structures and computer executable components comprisinga personal viewer system. The data structures define viewer credit,discounts, and account data in a manner that is generally consistentwith the above-described method. Likewise, the computer executablecomponents are capable of performing the actions of a personal viewersystem generally consistent with the above-described method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial diagram illustrating an environment forimplementing one exemplary embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting an arrangement of certain computingcomponents for implementing the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A is a flow diagram describing one embodiment of a process forfacilitating the online purchase of works using electronic previewing;

FIG. 3B is a flow diagram describing one embodiment of a process forfacilitating the management of a viewer account database;

FIG. 4 is a chart that illustrates comparative payment curves forimplementing the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 for various types of works;

FIG. 5 depicts a browser program with an example Web page formed inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention and presenting a personalviewer search input field to a user;

FIG. 6 depicts a browser program with an example Web page formed inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention and presenting a personalviewer account summary of works that have been electronically previewed,organized by type of work and publisher;

FIG. 7 depicts a browser program with an example Web page formed inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention and presenting an imageof a page from a sample search as well as personal viewer accountinformation related to that page image; and

FIG. 8 depicts a browser program with an example Web page formed inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention and presenting a personalviewer account management interface to a user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/669,088, filed Sep. 23, 2003, entitled “Personalized SearchableLibrary with Highlighting Capabilities,” which is incorporated herein byreference. FIG. 1 illustrates one environment for implementing anembodiment of the present invention. The environment shown includes apersonal viewer system 100 with a library of viewable content that aconsumer can electronically preview as an aid to decide whether topurchase the complete work from which the viewable content is taken. Theenvironment also includes various electronic user devices, such as acomputer system 102 and a PDA 104, which individual users can use tocommunicate with the personal viewer system 100. In the environmentshown in FIG. 1, the user devices 102, 104 communicate with the personalviewer system 100 via one or more computer networks, such as theInternet 106. Protocols and components for communicating via theInternet are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art ofcomputer network communications. Communication between user devices 102,104 and the personal viewer system 100 may also be enabled by localwired or wireless computer network connections.

The personal viewer system 100 depicted in FIG. 1 operates in adistributed computing environment comprising several computer systemsthat are interconnected via communication links, e.g., using one or morecomputer networks or direct connections. However, it will be appreciatedby those of ordinary skill in the art that the system 100 could equallyoperate in a computer system having fewer or greater numbers ofcomponents than are illustrated in FIG. 1. Thus, the depiction of thepersonal viewer system 100 in FIG. 1 should be taken as exemplary, andnot limiting to the scope of the claims that follow.

The personal viewer system 100, as illustrated, includes a viewer server108, a database server 110, and a back-end interface 112. Each of theservers 108 and 110 is described below in more detail. The back-endinterface 112 allows an operator of the personal viewer system 100 tomonitor and adjust the operation of the servers 108 and 110, as needed.

In brief, the viewer server 108 is generally responsible for providingfront-end user communication with various user devices, such as devices102 and 104, and back-end personal viewer and viewer account services incooperation with the database server 110. The front-end communicationprovided by the viewer server 108 may include generating text and/orgraphics, possibly organized as a Web page using hypertext transferprotocols, in response to information and viewer requests received fromthe various user devices 102, 104. The viewer server 108 also isgenerally responsible for presenting viewable content and viewer accountinformation obtained from the databases in the database server 110. Theback-end viewer account services provided by the viewer server 108 mayinclude determining access rights to and charges associated withparticular viewable content, incrementing and decrementing vieweraccounts as content is viewed, and/or viewing credits as purchased orincurred. The database server 110, as described below in reference toFIG. 2, maintains the databases that the viewer server 108 uses torespond to viewer requests, including a content database 116, an accessrights database 120, and a viewer account database 202.

In one suitable implementation, the personal viewer system 100 enables auser to electronically preview selected content from a library ofviewable content in the databases stored in the database server 110. Thelibrary of viewable content may include various forms of publications,including (but not limited to) books, magazines, newspapers,newsletters, manuals, guides, references, articles, reports, documents,etc. Selection of content to view using the personal viewer system 100can be accomplished in a variety of ways. For example, a user maymanually select content from a general library of content in a mannerthat positively identifies the content that the user desires toelectronically preview with the personal viewer. Automated selection ofcontent to electronically preview based on user actions may also beprovided. For example, each time the user selects a particular work forpotential purchase, portions of viewable content from the work mayautomatically be displayed using the personal viewer system 100 so thatthe user may electronically preview the displayed content. Furtherdetails on ways to select content are described in commonly assignedco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/669,088, entitled“Personalized Searchable Library with Highlighting Capabilities.”

Once selected, images of one or more portions (preferably pages) of theselected content are delivered by the viewer server 108 to the userdevice 102, 104 for display to the user, e.g., in the form of a Webpage, a portable document image, a raster-based image, a vector-basedimage, etc. Images of content may be stored and delivered in anyavailable image format, including but not limited to .html, .jpg, .gif,.pdf, and/or .tif formats. In an alternate embodiment, non-image basedfiles representing the one or more portions of the selected content aredelivered by the viewer server 108 to the user device 102, 104 fordisplay to the user, e.g., in the form of Word document or a text file.

As will be discussed below, a personal viewer enables a user toelectronically preview selected content of a work as an aid todetermining whether to purchase all of the remaining electronic contentor the corresponding tangible work from which the content was obtained.Preferably, the user establishes a personal viewer account prior toviewing content. The viewer account contains a balance of the creditsthat a viewer purchases and/or earns when using the personal viewer. Inother circumstances, a personal viewer account may be established inreal time with the submission or execution of the user's request toelectronically preview content using the personal viewer system 100. Theoperation of a personal viewer account in a personal viewer system 100will be described in more detail below.

FIG. 2 illustrates certain exemplary computing components that areresponsible for the operation of the personal viewer system 100 shown inFIG. 1. The viewer server 108, for example, is shown including anoperating system 114, processor 115, and memory 122. A personal viewerprocess 200, stored in the memory 122, is comprised of executableprogram instructions that operate in cooperation with the databaseserver 110 and the Internet 106 and user device 102, 104 to respond tousers' requests to electronically preview content and maintain theirpersonal viewer accounts. The personal viewer process 200 will bedescribed in more detail below. Suitable implementations for theoperating system 114, processor 115, and memory 122 are known orcommercially available, and are readily implemented by persons havingordinary skill in the art, particularly in light of the disclosureherein.

The database server 110, as illustrated in FIG. 2, includes a contentdatabase 116 containing viewable content, an access rights database 120containing information regarding access rights to the viewable content,and a viewer account database 202 containing viewer account information,including an amount of available credit a viewer has to electronicallypreview content. The database server 110 includes an operating system130, a memory 132, and a processor 134 configured to receive userrequests to electronically preview content from the content database 116as relayed from the personal viewer process 200 and viewer server 108.As for the viewer server 108, suitable implementations for the operatingsystem 130, memory 132, and processor 134 are known or commerciallyavailable, and are readily implemented by persons having ordinary skillin the art, particularly in light of the disclosure herein.

The database server 110 operates in cooperation with the viewer server108 to process the requests in accordance with the information in theaccess rights database 120 and viewer account database 202, and servesthe viewable content as appropriate from the content database 116 to theviewer server 108. The viewer server 108, in turn, operates inconjunction with the personal viewer process 200 to display the servedviewable content to the user via the Internet 106 on a user device 102,104.

In one embodiment, the access rights database 120 may containinformation about the viewable content that enables the viewer server108 to administer incentive programs provided by a party, such as anonline retailer or online merchant to induce users to electronicallypreview content with the goal of increasing sales. For example, theaccess rights database 120 may contain information that reduces or evenwaives the amount normally charged to view a portion of content fromcertain works, types of works, and for limited periods of time, e.g.,the amount charged to view content from one or more of the top tenbestsellers from the New York Times bestseller list may be discountedfor the month of December.

In one embodiment, the viewer account database 202 may containinformation about the user that enables the viewer server 108 to furtheradminister incentive programs provided by the party to induce users toelectronically preview content with the goal of increasing sales. Forexample, the viewer account database 202 may contain information aboutthe user's past viewing behavior or purchases that reduces or evenwaives the amount normally charged to view a portion of content fromcertain works, types of works, and for limited periods of time, e.g., auser who has purchased Harry Potter books in the past may be eligible toview portions of the newest Harry Potter book at a discount or at nocharge for the month of December.

Of course the viewer server 108 may administer other types of incentiveprograms alone or in conjunction with either or both of the accessrights database 120 and viewer account database 202 without departingfrom the scope of the claims that follow. For example, a party mightwish to offer an incentive program that donates the charges that theviewer server 108 assesses to the user's viewer account to auser-designated charity, e.g., an organization that promotes literacy.

In operation, the viewer server 108 controls the charges assessed to theuser when content is displayed to the user as a result of a request toelectronically preview content from a work available for purchase. Forexample, a user may request to electronically preview a portion ofviewable content from a work, such as selected pages or a chapter of abook, for which the user has made payment arrangements by previouslysetting up a viewer account in the viewer account database 202. Theamount charged to view the portion of viewable content may varyaccording to the incentive programs that the viewer server 108 isadministering, the identity of the user, the type of work from which thecontent is obtained, the access patterns of an aggregate number of usersviewing the content, or other factors as determined from information inthe access rights database 120 and/or the viewer account database 202.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the viewer server108 and database server 110 will typically employ a memory and processorin which program instructions are stored and executed for operation ofthe servers. The viewer server 108 and database server 110 furtherinclude executable program instructions for maintaining and updating thedatabases 116, 120, and 202, and responding to user requests toelectronically preview content and maintain their personal vieweraccounts. The executable program instructions may be embodied in thepersonal viewer process 200, shown in the illustrated embodiment asresiding on the viewer server 108. Alternatively, the executable programinstructions and personal viewer process 200 may be embodied in multipleprocesses that reside in multiple servers, including both the viewerserver 108 and database server 110, or even on the user device 102.

For the sake of convenience, much of the description herein is providedin the context of electronically previewing viewable content from books,but it should be well understood that the description herein is alsoapplicable to electronically previewing other forms of content that canbe read and displayed to a user. References herein to specific types ofcontent, such as books, magazines, newspapers, etc., are onlyillustrative and do not serve to limit the general application of theinvention.

As discussed, a user may be permitted to view a portion of viewablecontent from a work, such as selected pages or a chapter of a book. Toenable such viewing, the user must have previously opened a vieweraccount in the viewer account database 202 (or have such accountautomatically opened by virtue of an ongoing relationship with theparty). In one embodiment, viewer accounts include credits that a usereither purchases in advance of making a request to preview content, orearns as part of an incentive program administered by a party to induceusers to preview content with the goal of increasing sales of the worksfrom which the content is obtained. The credits may be expended topreview content, the value of which (in the discretion of the party) maybe used to obtain discounts on purchases. In one embodiment, the creditsmay represent actual dollar amounts, such as might be maintained in acredit card account or other form of ledger. Alternatively, the creditsmay represent a unit value that, in turn, may represent an actual dollaramount. The actual dollar amount represented by the unit value may befixed or may be variable in accordance with a viewer credit algorithm orpayment scheme employed at the party's discretion. Examples of differenttypes of viewer credit algorithms and payment schemes that may beemployed by parties to induce users to preview content will be describedin further detail with reference to FIG. 4 below.

One embodiment of a personal viewer process 200 by which viewer accountscan be maintained in a viewer account database 202 is shown in FIG. 3A.For each user who requests an electronic preview of a paragraph, page,chapter, or other portion of content from the content database 116, thepersonal viewer process 200 preferably establishes a viewer account 302against which a particular user's viewing activity is charged. In oneembodiment, a user provides a user input 306 to process 304 to manuallyobtain viewer credits, e.g., by purchasing them. In another embodiment,the personal viewer process 200 may itself generate an input 308 toprocess 304 to automatically grant viewer credits, for credit to aparticular user's viewer account, where the credits are earned as anincentive or reward for participating in promotional incentive programs.For example, the user may agree to electronically preview promotionalcontent from or related to a bestseller to earn a reward in the form ofviewing credits that may be applied to discount the charges for futureviewing of other requested content from works in which the viewer has aninterest. Viewer credits may be generic i.e., applicable against anywork in the merchants catalog, or tied to specific categories orproducts, e.g., a fixed credit may be granted towards a new bookproduced by a bestselling author if the user had previously purchasedthe last book by that author.

Once the input 306 and/or 308 is received, the personal viewer process200 determines whether the obtained viewer credits are earned as areward or incentive for participating in an incentive program, orpurchased. When the viewer credits are purchased, the personal viewerprocess 200 confirms the payment method at processing block 312. Whenthe viewer credits are earned as part of a reward or incentive forparticipating in a viewing promotion, the personal viewer process 200can bypass payment confirmation, as the user has justly earned thecredits at no charge. In either case, the personal viewer process 200continues at processing block 314 to increment the user's viewer accountwith the earned or purchased credits as indicated.

The personal viewer process 200 repeats the above-described processes asneeded, i.e., whenever the user decides to purchase additional viewercredits, or whenever the user participates in promotional programs thatentitle him or her to earn viewer credits in exchange for electronicallypreviewing promotional content. Participating in promotional programsgenerally includes viewing promotional content with the personal viewer,but may also include, for example, other actions, such as makingpurchases of promotional or other content from the party that isoffering the promotion, or visiting Web sites related to the promotion.

Further details of one embodiment of a personal viewer process 200 bywhich viewer accounts can be used to preview page images of content areshown in FIG. 3B. In operation, at process block 316, the personalviewer process 200 facilitates a user selection of a portion of viewablecontent from a content database 116. It will be appreciated that theselected portion of content may vary from less than one page to severalpages comprising one or more chapters.

In one embodiment, at process block 318, the personal viewer process 200consults an access rights database 120 and/or the viewer's accounthistory as obtained from the viewer account database 202 (should theuser have an account), to determine a viewer credit value associatedwith the selected portion of content. The basis for determining theviewer credit value of the selected portion of content will typically bea unit value that quantifies the selected portion of content, i.e., thatindicates the amount of content that the user has selected. For example,the unit value may be a word, a number of words, a phrase, a number ofsentences, paragraphs, pages, chapters or other discrete amount ofcontent.

In one embodiment, the viewer credit value corresponds to the amount ofthe selected portion of content, as indicated by the unit value, as wellas the type of work from which the content is obtained. For example, asshown in the graph 400 of a viewer credit algorithm in FIG. 4, when thetype of work from which the content is obtained is a work of fiction410, the viewer credit value of the content 402 will generally increaseas the amount of viewed content 404 increases. However, when the type ofwork from which the content is obtained is a work of nonfiction 406, theviewer credit value of the content 402 decreases as the amount of viewedcontent 404 increases. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the viewercredit value assessed to view pages in a work of nonfiction willdecrease over time, whereas the viewer credit value assessed to viewpages in a work of fiction will increase over time. In other words,using the payment scheme embodied in the viewer credit algorithmdepicted in FIG. 4, users are generally charged a smaller number ofcredits to view smaller portions of fictional works and a larger numberof credits to view larger portions of fictional works, at least up to acertain threshold number of credits (after which the user has likelypaid more to view the work than would have been paid to purchase atangible copy of the work outright). In contrast, the value assessed toview selected portions of content from a reference work 408 may be setto remain the same, regardless of the amount of content viewed, and thevalue assessed to view selected portions of content from a non-fictionwork may decrease, even as the amount of content viewed increases overtime.

Returning to FIG. 3B at process block 318, other methods of determiningthe viewer credit value of a selected portion of content other than theviewer credit algorithm illustrated in FIG. 4 may be employed withoutdeparting from the scope of the claims that follow. For example, in oneembodiment, in an effort to increase sales of works from a particularpublisher, a party may offer a discount or even waive the chargesnormally assessed to display content from works of that publisher, e.g.,a party might offer all users the ability to electronically preview allcontent from Dutton publishers for free during a particular promotionalperiod. In addition, other viewer credit algorithms may be applied thatare specific to a particular user. For example, a party may offer aparticular user a discount to electronically preview content from workspublished by Dutton publishers if the user had previously previewed (andpaid for) content from a work published by Dutton. Alternatively, theparty may track the user's past purchases of works, and reward the userwith a commensurate number of viewer credits or with a fixed number ofviewer credits once a threshold dollar amount of purchases has been met.The viewer credits rewarded in this way can be used by the purchaser todiscount the charges assessed for future requests to display content.Moreover, the party may provide a discounted rate to electronicallypreview the content of a new work by a particular author if the user hadpreviously purchased a tangible work by that author.

Still other viewer credit algorithms may be dynamically generated basedon the observed viewing behavior of an aggregate number of customers.For example, if it is found that the average viewing of a particularreference work is only three pages, then the number of credits assessedto view the first three pages in the reference work may becorrespondingly increased, and the number of credits assessed to viewall pages after the first three pages may be decreased to incent theuser to continue to preview the work. Various algorithms can beenvisioned that would automatically measure access to each work overtime and generate an algorithm that is unique to that particular work.

Referring again to FIG. 3B, once the viewer credit value for viewingparticular portions of content has been determined, at process block 320the personal viewer process 200 compares the balance of the user'sviewer account as stored in the viewer account database 202 to the valueof the pages selected for display. At process block 322, the personalviewer determines whether there is sufficient credit available in theuser's account to display the selected pages. If not, the personalviewer displays a message to the user notifying them that there areinsufficient credits in their account to view the requested content. Inone embodiment, at termination block 330, the personal viewer transfersthe user automatically to an account management Web page that enablesthe user to purchase additional viewer credits if he or she so chooses.Alternatively, the personal viewer may automatically prompt the user tofirst view a promotional content selection so that the user may earnadditional viewer credits. In yet another embodiment, the personalviewer may charge the user to view the content as each piece of contentis actually viewed, or may aggregate the cost of all content viewedduring a particular session and charge the user in one lump sum at theend of the session.

When the viewer does have sufficient viewer credit in their account, thepersonal viewer process 200 displays the portion of content representingthe requested content in a personal viewer Web page at block 326. Asnoted earlier, the database server 110 may include an access rightsdatabase 120 that is used by the personal viewer process 200 to furthercontrol the display of content in response to a user request to viewselected content or as part of an incentive program to induce users toview content with the goal of increasing sales of tangible works fromwhich the content is obtained. For example, the access rights database120 may include access rules that, when determined to be applicable, actto limit the content in the selected portion that is shown to the userwhen the user's viewing account balance is insufficient to cover thecharges assessed to view the content. The rules may further act to limitthe content in the selected portion that is shown to the user inconjunction with other types of limitations embodied in the accessrights database 120, including limits on the amount (e.g., percentage)of content that can be shown to the user for any given page, title, orcollection of content, limits on the total number of pages that can beshown for any given title or collection content, limits on the amount ofcontent based on type of content, limits on the total number of pagesthat can be shown to a user independent of content-specific limitations,and limits on the total number of pages that can be shown to the userfor any given request to electronically preview content. These limitsmay be imposed on a per request basis or in the aggregate for all of therequests made by the user. These limits may also be imposed forspecified time periods. For example, access rules may be written suchthat a user may not see more than a specified percentage of a given pageof content in a specified time frame, such as a 30-day time period or 10days in a 30-day cycle, or over the lifetime of the user. The personalviewer system 100 may implement user verification procedures to inhibitusers from establishing multiple viewer accounts to circumvent accesslimitations in the access rights database 120.

Access rules in the access rights database 120 may further be configuredto apply differently for each individual user (or groups of users),depending on content-specific information, such as the type of contentat issue. For example, access rules may be written to permit viewing oftables of content and indexes of content at no charge, but to imposecharges when viewing content obtained from the body of the work itself.User location can also act as a factor that determines which accessrules govern a user's access to content at the time the content isproduced for display to the user. For instance, different access rulesmay be written to enable a student in a classroom to access an entirebody of content that is being used in the class at no charge, while thesame student, at home, is only able to view a limited portion of thecontent at no charge. The domain of computer connection, for example,may be used to determine user location. Access rules may be written toapply differently based on the time the content is to be provided to theuser, e.g., on different days or at different times of day, as well.Access rules may also be prepared and stored in the access rightsdatabase 120 so that once a portion of content has been displayed to auser, the user can always come back to view that portion, withoutimpacting other limits on viewing other portions of content. Adescription of the types of access rules that may be employed in anembodiment of the present invention is described in commonly assignedcopending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/669,088, filed Sep. 23,2003, entitled “Personalized Searchable Library with HighlightingCapabilities.”

Processing continues at process block 328 to update the viewer accountin the viewer account database 202 to reflect the use of the viewercredits. In one embodiment, the personal viewer 200 reduces the user'sviewer account by the amount of the viewer credit value associated withthe viewed content. Alternatively, or in addition, to induce users topay for the previewed portions of content (or to eventually purchase thework from which the content was obtained, or to purchase other works orproducts in which the user is interested), the personal viewer 200 atprocess block 328 may instead update the viewer account in the vieweraccount database 202 to, among others, reverse the credit or otherwiserefund or reimburse the assessed charges to the user's viewing accountunder certain conditions, to apply the assessed charges towards otherviewing credits already expended, to discount future assessed charges,to apply the assessed charges toward the purchase of the work (or otherworks or products), or to reward the user with viewer credits forviewing promotional material.

For example, the party may decide to guarantee user satisfaction byoffering to waive or reimburse any charges assessed to view therequested content that did not meet the user's expectations.Alternatively, if the user was unhappy with a portion of a work that wasviewed, the party may allow the user to apply the credit alreadyexpended to view that work to other works offered in the same genre orby the same publisher or author (e.g., if a user was unhappy afterpreviewing one work from a publisher, the user would be allowed to usethe same number of credits already expended towards the viewing ofanother work by that same publisher). Moreover, a user may also beoffered discounts to electronically preview other content at a lesser orno charge.

A further incentive to induce users to pay for previewing portions ofcontent would be to allow the user to apply the amount previously paidto preview content towards a subsequent purchase of an electronic ortangible purchase of the previewed work or any other work, e.g., arelated work by the same author. For example, a user may have previeweda chapter of the sixth book in The Dark Tower series of books by authorStephen King, for which he or she paid $1.00. The normally discountedpurchase price of $18.00 for a hardcover copy of the book, The Song ofSusannah, would be further discounted to $17.00 when the usersubsequently purchases the book from the party. Alternatively, the usermay prefer instead to wait and apply the $1.00 to the purchase price of$23.80 for the seventh book in the Dark Tower series, to be published onSep. 21, 2004. In another example, the user may have previewed portionsof all of the first six books of the Dark Tower series sufficient toearn the $18.00 needed to purchase the hardcover copy of The Song ofSusannah outright, in which case the user could apply that amount to thepurchase price to, in effect, get the book for free.

In yet another example, the party may decide to allow users to earnviewing credits in exchange for viewing promotional material. Forinstance, during an election year, a party may promote political humortitles by author Al Franken, such as “Lies and Lying Liars Who TellThem,” or “Still More George W. Bushisms: Neither in French, Nor inEnglish, Nor in Mexican,” as further described with reference to FIG. 5.The amount that would normally be assessed against the user's vieweraccount is instead accumulated as a viewer credit that the user mayapply toward future purchases or future previewing of other works inwhich the user may be interested, such as Bill Clinton's recent memoirentitled “My Life.”

Returning now to FIG. 3B, the processing at process block 328 mayimplement a viewer credit value algorithm such as that illustrated inFIG. 4. For example, at process block 328, the personal viewer 200 mayassess users a larger number of viewer credits as they view more contentfrom a particular work of fiction. Conversely, the personal viewer 200may assess users a smaller number of viewer credits as more content froma work of nonfiction are viewed. Thus users could, in theory, view theentire content of a work online, although the payment scheme would becalibrated such that viewing the entire content from a work is a moreexpensive option for the user than purchasing a tangible copy of thework outright. The personal viewer 200 may also credit users with viewercredits in the form of a reward for viewing promotional content. Ofcourse, to the personal viewer 200 may implement different viewer creditvalue algorithms for viewed content without departing from the scope ofthe claims that follow.

To carry out the above-described viewing limitations, viewer creditalgorithms, and incentives, the personal viewer system 100 may beconfigured to track user activity for each user, including the identityof the portions of content (e.g. the paragraphs, pages, or chapters)that the user has viewed and the time frame in which the user has viewedthe content. The tracked user activity may be maintained in memory 122,in the access rights database 120 or in the viewer account database 202,as appropriate.

FIGS. 5-8 illustrate a browser program 500 displaying Web pages in whichthe user is able to use the personal viewer process 200 to view contentand maintain their viewer account. The Web pages may be generated by theviewer server 108 and delivered to the user's computing device 102, 104via the Internet. In FIG. 5, the user enters a desired search term orselection in the box 502 and uses a pointing device, keyboard, or otherinput device to initiate the request, e.g., by clicking on the button“GO” identified at reference numeral 504. The Web page in FIG. 5 mayinclude other hypertext links, such as an “Index” link 506 and“Frequently Accessed Titles” link 508, both providing additionalinformation that can be assembled into one or more additional Webpage(s) not illustrated. Clicking on the Index link 506, for example,may produce a Web page for the user that lists bibliographic data forall of the viewable content available for display. The FrequentlyAccessed Titles link 508 may produce, for example, a listing of thecontent most frequently accessed by the user.

Another hypertext link that may be included in the personal viewer is apromotional link 512 that enables the user to view the promoted contentand earn personal viewer discounts in the form of earned viewer creditsin their viewer account. For example, the illustrated promotional link512 “View the Latest Bestseller LIES (AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELLTHEM), by Al Franken,” when initiated, will take the viewer to anotherpersonal viewer Web page, such as that illustrated in FIG. 7, withcontent displayed from the promoted work. The works that are promoted inthe promotional link 512 may be frequently modified in accordance withthe party's marketing goals, and may be based on the user's viewing orpurchasing history. In other words, the promotional link may list notonly bestsellers, but also other titles targeted to the purchasing orviewing habits of the particular user.

Log-in and log-out routines may be employed by the viewer server 108 toprovide users with secure access to their viewer accounts. Suitableroutines for verifying a user requesting access to viewable content(e.g., using a password) or their viewer account information are wellknown in the art. In FIGS. 5-8, it is assumed the user has beenrecognized by the system, and, in certain contexts, may have logged into verify their identity. A Log Out link 510 is illustrated that, wheninitiated, enables the user to discontinue the user's current sessionand log out of his or her account.

FIG. 6 illustrates the browser program 500 displaying a Web page inwhich a user's personal viewer account summary is displayed at referencenumeral 602. The viewer account summary 602 may be displayed in avariety of different formats. By way of example only, the viewer accountsummary 602 in FIG. 6 includes a listing of the total available credits604 in the viewer's account, in this case 20 credits 612, as well as alisting of the recently viewed works 606 and the number of creditsexpended to view those works 614. In the illustrated example, therecently viewed works include “Cryptonomicon” by author “NealStephenson” for 4 credits 616, and “Perdido Street Station” by author“China Mieville” for 7 credits 618. Other information from the viewer'saccount may be maintained or displayed in the personal viewer withoutdeparting from the scope of the claims that follow.

FIG. 7 illustrates the browser program 500 displaying a Web page inwhich a portion of the content that the user requested to view (or thatthe party is promoting) is displayed at reference numeral 706. Forexample, when the user has requested to view selected content from thebook titled “Ancient Mysteries by Peter James,” the personal viewerdisplays the title information at reference numeral 702 along with theavailable viewer credits remaining to the user at reference numeral 704,which the user may expend when viewing the requested content displayedat reference numeral 706. Of course, other information may be displayedby the personal viewer as well without departing from the scope of theclaims that follow, including, for example, the amount of viewer creditsthat the user has expended by viewing the currently displayed portion ofcontent.

FIG. 8 illustrates a browser program 500 displaying a Web page formanaging a viewer account and, more specifically, a user interface topurchase additional viewer credits. A Web page label identifying theaccount is illustrated at reference numeral 802, shown here as “MyAccount Manager.” An input box labeled “Enter Number of Viewer Credits,”is provided at reference numeral 804, adjacent to an input box atreference numeral 806 in which the user may enter the desired number ofviewer credits or select the desired number of viewer credits from apull-down list of alternatives, e.g., 10, 20, etc. Another input boxlabeled “PURCHASE NOW” is provided at reference numeral 808, which theuser may activate to purchase the selected number of credits. Whenactivated, the “PURCHASE NOW” button causes the user's previously storedpayment information (e.g., credit card, debit card, direct withdrawal,etc.) to be charged accordingly. Other interfaces for managing theviewer account may be provided other than that illustrated in FIG. 8,without departing from the scope of the claims that follow. Forinstance, a Web page showing the amount of viewer credits earned throughpromotional viewing may be display to the user upon request.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed above, it will be appreciated that various changes can be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.The scope of the present invention should thus be determined from thefollowing claims and equivalents thereto.

1. A computer-implemented method for pricing electronic viewing ofworks, the method comprising: under control of instructions executed byat least one processor of a computer system: crediting an accountassociated with a consumer with viewer credits obtained by the consumerfor participating in a promotional incentive program implemented by thecomputer system; receiving a consumer selection of a portion of viewablecontent in a work from a library comprising a plurality of works forpurchase; determining a viewer credit value associated with the selectedportion of viewable content, wherein the viewer credit value isdetermined based on an amount of content in the selected portion ofviewable content and a type of the work from which the portion ofviewable content was selected; determining whether the viewer credits inthe account associated with the consumer have sufficient value thatequals or exceeds the determined viewer credit value; when the value ofthe viewer credits in the account equals or exceeds the determinedviewer credit value, delivering the selected portion of viewable contentfor presentation to the consumer prior to a purchase of the work, by theconsumer, from which the portion was selected, wherein the selectedportion is delivered in exchange for the determined viewer credit valuecharged to the account associated with the consumer; and notifying theconsumer when the account associated with the consumer has viewercredits of a value that is less than the determined viewer credit value.2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the viewer creditvalue increases when the amount of content delivered for presentation tothe consumer increases.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the viewer credit value decreases when the amount of contentdelivered for presentation to the consumer increases.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the viewer credit valueis determined according to an aggregated viewing behavior of a pluralityof consumers to whom portions of viewable content are delivered.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the viewer credit valueis determined for a particular consumer to whom the portion of viewablecontent is delivered based on the particular consumer's past viewingbehavior.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein theparticular consumer's past viewing behavior includes whether theparticular consumer has previously viewed other portions of contentobtained from the same work.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the portion of viewable content selected by the consumer ispromoted to the consumer by a party selling the work.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the consumer earnsviewer credits for electronically viewing the promoted portion ofviewable content.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising accruing, to the account associated with the consumer, viewercredits per portion of viewable content delivered for presentation tothe consumer.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising transacting a purchase of the work by the consumer.
 11. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the purchased work isin a tangible format.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10,wherein the purchased work is in an electronic format.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising: trackingpurchases of works by the consumer; and crediting the account associatedwith the consumer with a fixed number of viewing credits when thepurchases of works by the consumer exceed a predetermined thresholdvalue.
 14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theviewer credit value is assessed to the account associated with theconsumer in real-time.
 15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the amount of content in the selected portion of viewablecontent comprises at least one of a word, a phrase, a sentence, a page,and a chapter.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereindelivering the selected portion of viewable content includes deliveringthe selected portion in an image-based format.
 17. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the image-based formatincludes at least one of an .html, .jpg, .gif, .pdf, and .tif format.18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein delivering theselected portion of viewable content includes delivering the selectedportion in a non-image-based format.
 19. The computer-implemented methodof claim 18, wherein the non-image-based format includes a text-baseddocument.
 20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein thetext-based document is a document in an electronically-editable format.21. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions encodedthereon to facilitate pricing of electronic viewing of works, whereinthe instructions, when executed by a computing apparatus, cause thecomputing apparatus to: credit an account associated with a consumerwith viewer credits obtained by the consumer for participating in apromotional incentive program; receive a consumer-selection of a portionof viewable content in a work from a library comprising a plurality ofworks for purchase; determine a viewer credit value associated with theselected portion of viewable content, wherein the viewer credit value isdetermined based on an amount of content in the selected portion ofviewable content and a type of the work from which the portion ofviewable content was selected; determine whether the viewer credits inthe account associated with the consumer have sufficient value thatequals or exceeds the determined viewer credit value; when the value ofviewer credits in the account equals or exceeds the determined viewercredit value, deliver the selected portion of viewable content forpresentation to the consumer prior to a purchase of the work from whichthe portion was selected, wherein the selected portion is delivered inexchange for the determined viewer credit value charged to the accountassociated with the consumer; and notify the consumer when the accountassociated with the consumer has viewer credits of a value that is lessthan the determined viewer credit value.
 22. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 21, wherein the viewer credit value increaseswhen the amount of content delivered for presentation to the consumerincreases.
 23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, whereinthe viewer credit value decreases when the amount of content deliveredfor presentation to the consumer increases.
 24. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 21, further comprising an instruction thatcauses the computing apparatus to aggregate a viewing behavior of aplurality of consumers to whom portions of viewable content aredelivered.
 25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, whereinthe viewer credit value is determined for a particular consumer to whomthe units portion of viewable content is delivered based on theparticular consumer's past viewing behavior.
 26. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 25, wherein the consumer's past viewing behaviorincludes whether the consumer has previously viewed other portions ofviewable content obtained from the same work.
 27. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 21, further comprising an instruction thatcauses the computing apparatus to receive a request from the consumer toview the selected portion of viewable content.
 28. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 21, further comprising an instruction thatcauses the computing apparatus to accrue, to the account associated withthe consumer, viewer credits per portion of viewable content deliveredfor presentation to the consumer.
 29. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 21, further comprising an instruction that causes thecomputing apparatus to assess the viewer credit value to the consumeraccount.
 30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, whereinthe amount of content comprises at least one of a word, a sentence, apage, and a chapter.
 31. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtainedis a work of fiction.
 32. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtainedis a work of non-fiction.
 33. The computer-implemented method of claim3, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content isobtained is a work of fiction.
 34. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 3, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content isobtained is a work of non-fiction.
 35. The computer-implemented methodof claim 4, wherein the viewer credit value changes when the aggregatedviewing behavior of the plurality of consumers indicates that theselected portion of viewable content is in high demand.
 36. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the viewer credit valuecharged to the consumer account for electronic viewing is waived. 37.The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the earned viewercredits are applicable towards at least one of a future purchase andfuture electronic viewing.
 38. The computer-implemented method of claim9, wherein the accrued viewer credits are applicable toward a purchaseof the work.
 39. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21,wherein the viewer credit value depends on at least one of the work fromwhich the portion was obtained, the selected portion of viewablecontent, and at least one consumer to whom the portion is delivered. 40.The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the work fromwhich the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work of fiction.41. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the workfrom which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work ofnon-fiction.
 42. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23,wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content is obtainedis a work of fiction.
 43. The computer-readable storage medium of claim23, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content isobtained is a work of non-fiction.
 44. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 24, further comprising an instruction that causes thecomputing apparatus to change the viewer credit value when theaggregated viewing behavior of the plurality of consumers indicates thatthe selected portion of viewable content is in high demand.
 45. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 29, further comprising aninstruction that causes the computing apparatus to assess the viewercredit value to the consumer account in real-time.
 46. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 28, further comprising aninstruction that causes the computing apparatus to apply the accruedviewer credits toward a purchase of the work.
 47. A computer system forpricing electronic viewing of works, comprising: a consumer accountcomponent operable on a computer device to credit an account associatedwith a consumer with viewer credits obtained by the consumer forparticipating in a promotional incentive program implemented by thecomputer system; an identifying component operable on a computer deviceto receive a consumer selection of a portion of viewable content,wherein the portion is selected from a work in a library comprising aplurality of works for purchase; a viewer credit value determinationcomponent operable on a computer device to determine a viewer creditvalue associated with the selected portion of viewable content, whereinthe viewer credit value is determined based on an amount of contentselected by a consumer and a type of the work from which the portion ofviewable content was selected; a comparison component operable on acomputer device to determine whether the viewer credits in the accountassociated with the consumer have sufficient value that equals orexceeds the determined viewer credit value; a delivery componentoperable on a computer device, when the comparison component determinesthat the viewer credits in the account have sufficient value to deliverthe selected portion of viewable content for presentation to theconsumer prior to a purchase of the work from which the portion wasselected by the consumer in exchange for the determined viewer creditvalue charged to the account associated with the consumer; and anotification component operable on a computer device to notify theconsumer when the account associated with the consumer has viewercredits of a value that is less than the determined viewer credit value.48. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit valuedetermination component is further operable to increase the viewercredit value when the amount of content delivered for presentation tothe consumer increases.
 49. The computer system of claim 48, wherein thework from which the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work offiction.
 50. The computer system of claim 48, wherein the work fromwhich the portion of viewable content is obtained is a work ofnon-fiction.
 51. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewercredit value determination component is further operable to decrease theviewer credit value when the amount of content delivered forpresentation to the consumer increases.
 52. The computer system of claim51, wherein the work from which the portion of viewable content isobtained is a work of fiction.
 53. The computer system of claim 51,wherein the work from which the amount of content is obtained is a workof non-fiction.
 54. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewercredit value determination component is further operable to determinethe viewer credit value according to an aggregated viewing behavior of aplurality of consumers to whom portions of viewable content aredelivered.
 55. The computer system of claim 54, wherein the viewercredit value determination component is further operable to change theviewer credit value when the aggregated viewing behavior of theplurality of consumers indicates that the selected portion of viewablecontent is in high demand.
 56. The computer system of claim 47, whereinthe viewer credit value determination component is further operable todetermine the viewer credit value for a particular consumer to whom theportion of viewable content is delivered based on the particularconsumer's past viewing behavior.
 57. The computer system of claim 56,wherein the particular consumer's past viewing behavior includes whetherthe particular consumer has previously viewed other portions of contentobtained from the same work.
 58. The computer system of claim 47,wherein the selected portion of viewable content is promoted to theconsumer by a party selling the work.
 59. The computer system of claim58, wherein the viewer credit value determination component is furtheroperable to waive the viewer credit value charged to the accountassociated with the consumer.
 60. The computer system of claim 58,wherein the viewer credit value determination component is furtheroperable to register viewer credits that a consumer earns forelectronically viewing the promoted portion of content.
 61. The computersystem of claim 60, wherein the earned viewer credits are applicabletowards at least one of a future purchase and future electronic viewing.62. The computer system of claim 47, wherein the delivery component isfurther configured to deliver the selected portion of viewable contentupon request by the consumer.
 63. The computer system of claim 62,wherein the viewer credit value determination component is furtheroperable to assess the viewer credit value to the account associatedwith the consumer.
 64. The computer system of claim 47, wherein theviewer credit value determination component is further operable toregister viewer credits accrued per portion of viewable contentdelivered for presentation to the consumer.
 65. The computer system ofclaim 64, wherein the viewer credit value determination component isfurther operable to apply the accrued viewer credits toward a purchaseof the work.
 66. The computer system of claim 47, further comprising apurchase component operable to facilitate purchasing of the work. 67.The computer system of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit valuedetermination component is further operable to assess the viewer creditvalue to the account associated with the consumer.
 68. The computersystem of claim 47, wherein the viewer credit value determinationcomponent is further operable to assess the viewer credit value to theconsumer in real-time.
 69. The computer system of claim 47, wherein theamount of content comprises at least one of a word, a phrase, asentence, a page, and a chapter.
 70. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein said participating in a promotional incentive programincludes viewing promotional content.
 71. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 21, wherein said participating in a promotionalincentive program includes viewing promotional content.
 72. The computersystem of claim 47, wherein said participating in a promotionalincentive program includes viewing promotional content.